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Published: July 23rd 2008
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Shalom all! Apparently Barak Obama is in town schmoozing it up with the Israelis - funny it takes me coming half way around the world to get this close to an American presidential candidate! He's staying at a hotel around the corner from here... Hope all is well on the home front!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The second session starts today. Said good-bye to those who left after the first session and welcomed those coming on for the second. This group isn’t as large as the first session - we had almost 100 people in the first session! This time, there’s about 70, which is still a good crowd.
Judy, my new roommate, is here and she is awesome! We had a great Shabbat weekend together. The yeshiva hosted services and a welcome dinner Friday night like they did for the first session. Saturday morning, we went to Kol Hashanama, a Reform/Reconstructionist synagogue, and it was a lovely service. A lot of singing, which I’ve decided I really enjoy! We then had a leisurely stroll down Emek Refaim, a popular street with many restaurants and unique shops and popular with the North American tourist. Of course, everything
Israel Museum
Some new friends... was closed for Shabbat, but we had fun window shopping. Actually, we did run into a few places open on Shabbat and I wonder if they have to pay extra or get a permit. One such place was a café that we decided to stop and have lunch at. Yes, I broke the Shabbat moment by eating at a non-Kosher café, which also means I spent money, another no-no for strict observance! But that’s okay. I do what I can and what feels right for me and the rest will fall into place…
We took naps Saturday afternoon - a common thing to do on Shabbat! In the evening we walked to the Bible Lands Museum for a wine, cheese and music concert they hosted in their gardens. It was fabulous! The band played an eclectic sort of instruments including the accordion and flutes. Some of it was danceable and so I obliged! There are often many things happening around Jerusalem to celebrate the end of Shabbat and this was one of them, in case one is wondering why such an event happened on Shabbat. It actually didn’t start until after sundown, which is the end of Shabbat. And
Israel Museum
To scale model of what the Old City would have looked like before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. that also means it started late, around 9:30, because the sun doesn’t go down until about 8:30 during the summer! So we were out ‘til midnight, but it was worth it!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Session two is well under way now with the completion of the second day. I’m taking an Introduction to Talmud class and really liking it. I had reservations at first because of my Hebrew level but some in the class have even less Hebrew to none than I do. Plus, the teacher gives us a cheat sheet with sources on it to help with translations. Studying Talmud is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, in a way. First, one needs to translate the text, which can be either Aramaic or Hebrew or both. Next, one has to go, if one so desires, to the Tanach (Bible) depending upon what one is studying to get a sense for what the rabbis are discussing since much of the Talmud is commentary on the Bible. Or actually, as I am learning, it is commentary on Mishnah, which is commentary on the Bible. Details. Anyway, it can get quite complicated just in keeping track of who said
Israel Museum
In front of the model. what, what is being said, etc. Finally, one attempts to understand what it all means in the end, and even that is open to debate because of language issues, cultural issues, ethics, etc. It’s all so exciting!
So, here is how our class is structured: we meet as a group (there are only 6 of us in this class) for about an hour, probably less than that as we get further into the session, so that the teacher can give us the text for us to work on. We may have a brief discussion about it, look at some references or Tanach together, and then he sends us off in “chavruta” (study partners) to decipher it. Chavruta is the classical way to study Jewish sources, usually 2 people but no more than 3. My chavruta partner is Dana from New York City and she is great to work with. I really lucked out being that the class is very small; we seem to have similar working styles. We move into the Beit Midrash, which is the main study area of the yeshiva, to sit at tables and utilize the many dictionaries and references that line the library shelves there.
After about another hour or so, we reconvene with the teacher to discuss our findings. Whew!! It’s a challenge, all right!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
There was another “incident” in Jerusalem today. A “copy cat” of the last one where a man drove a bulldozer into a crowd of people. This one happened just down the street from the yeshiva so folks were a little freaked. But we’re all okay and as is the Israeli way, life went quickly back to normal.
Had a nice evening - went to the Israel Museum and although all the permanent exhibits were closed due to renovation so I couldn’t see their awesome Judaica and archeological collections, we did get to see the “to scale” life size model of the Old City before the destruction of the Second Temple as well as the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. Very cool. And later in the evening we watched a modern dance company perform in the Museum’s art garden and that was an experience! Modern, contemporary dance taken to a whole new level!
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